Learn how to make your own eco-friendly DIY smudge sticks, and find out why it’s so important to collect local and seasonal plants in your area.
Hello my beautiful friends!
Today I invite you to go out into your garden or the closest park/forest and find your own ritual plants, those that grow in your local fields and gardens, that developed thanks to the sun and rain of your part of the world … Depending on where you live, common herbs could be sage, lavender, mugwort, laurel, rosemary…
But first, let’s find out what are Smudge Sticks, why it’s important to find alternatives to Palo Santo and White Sage, and which other herbs can help us purify our homes, our crystals or our minds.
Despite their rising popularity worldwide, some people still don’t know what smudge sticks are and especially why they are so special.
Herbal smudge sticks are used in smudging ceremonies, “practiced by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, that involve the burning of sacred herbs, in some cases for spiritual cleansing or blessing” (source).
Nowadays people worldwide have implemented the burning of herbal sticks, just like incense, outside religious or cultural traditions. Not out of disrespect or cultural appropriation, but as a way to embrace different cultures and bring back a spiritual level into our lives, that has been painfully lacking in the post-industrial era.
WIth the Palo Santo craze that has taken the world by storm these last few years, the Palo Santo tree is now officially threatened with extinction. The global demand being too vast, for both spiritual and esoteric purposes, Palo Santo resources are currently being ransacked by unscrupulous people, obviously the ancient shamanic rituals of harvesting are not being respected, trees are becoming scarce, and soon they will disappear. History repeats itself.
#stopusingpalosanto
Just like Palo Santo, I do recommend the use/purchase of White Sage . The marketing of this sacred Native American plant is not without consequences for the environment: coming mainly from California, you can imagine its carbon footprint in order to be conveyed and sold all around the world.
So I do not encourage you to turn towards this sacred Native American plant for your practices and your rituals. It’s rather problematic to continue to feed farms and businesses that have nothing to do with the spiritual and sacred aspect of the plant.
#stopusingwhitesage
Borrowing from the Locavore philosophy, it is equally vital to turn ourselves to the plants born in our regions for our spiritual practices, those that vibrate under our sun and that correspond to our own needs.
Whether you want to smudge, purify, meditate, please let’s all rethink our practice and its impact on the planet and the ecosystem. Do we really need to appropriate ourselves of the rites and herbs of remote cultures that we know so little about?
We cannot claim to be spiritual beings if our actions participate in the destruction of flora and fauna, sacred or not (all Forests and all Animals should be sacred, in my opinion). I invite you to reinvent your own spirituality so that it connects you to Mother Earth at an even deeper level.
Grow your own garden (or just a little plant in a pot), appreciate what flourishes around you, establish that your territory and what grows on it, is sacred and in connection to you.
✼ Lavender: used for cleansing, protection, happiness, healing, purification, tranquility, sleep
✼ Mugwort: getting rid of negativity, lucid dreaming
✼ Juniper: purification, invigorating for both body & mind
✼ Common Sage: meditation, cleansing, purification
✼ Rosemary: cleansing, invigorating
To make your own herbal smudge sticks will need:
And there you go, now you know how to make your own DIY smudge sticks and you’ll never need to buy them again. Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments down below which are your favorite plants and for what reason.
Also don’t forget to pin this post to share the good vibes ♥
I wish you a love-filled day xoxo
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